While writing the Constitution, neither James Madison nor Alexander Hamilton envisioned the emergence of political parties. However, it only took a couple years of Washington being in office before they formed. After Hamilton created his financial plan for the country, there was a big divide in how people felt toward it. The two parties that initially formed were the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. The federalists were the ones that agreed with Hamilton’s plan and the national bank. They favored the British, and thought that manufacturing and urbanization was the way of the future. Almost the opposite of that, the Democratic-Republicans did not agree with Hamilton’s financial plan and the National Bank. They favored the French, and believed that farming and agriculture was the way to go. Another argument that was had between them was how to interpret the Constitution. The Federalists favored loose construction of the Constitution and liked the necessary and proper clause. They thought that if the Constitution did not specifically say not to do it, and it is necessary and proper, like the Nation Bank, then the Federal government had the right to do it. The Democratic-Republicans favored strict constitution of the Constitution, and heavily favored the 10th Amendment saying that what is not said in the Constitution should be left up to the states. As time went on near the 1820s political parties started to shift. In the 1824 election, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams were running against each other. Adams aligned more with the views of the Federalist Party whereas Jackson aligned with the views of the Democratic-Republican. He opposed the National Bank and favored a more hands off approach. Andrew Jackson’s party became known as the Democrats. This party was mainly supported by farmers, city workers, and laborers. The Whigs was a political party that was formed in opposition to Jackson. The Whigs aligned much more with the views of the Federalists and were supporters of the national bank. While the Whigs were supported by businesses and banks, Andrew Jackson claimed to be the ‘common man’ president, meaning that he was just an everyday person like all of his voters. Although Jackson claims to be the common man's president, he fails to protect the individual liberties of people that aren’t white males, and only stays strict to the Constitution when it is convenient for him.
Jackson claimed to be the ‘guardian of the Constitution’. He certainly tried to protect the individual liberties of the white male working class. One way he tried to protect the common person was by vetoing the bill in 1832 to recharter the National Bank. He did this because he did not believe that the National Bank was constitutional, even though the Supreme Court had deemed it to be. He thought that the National Bank only benefited the extremely wealthy. The bank was owned by mostly a couple hundred very rich people and the other one fourth of it was owned by foreign people not from America. Jackson vetoing this shows how strongly he wanted to protect the Constitution. When writer Harriet Martineau came to America, she was amazed at how great America was. She said that it was incredible that there were all working class in the cities and there were all landowners in the rural areas. She expressed how democratic America was and how little poverty there appeared to be. With her description of America, one would not think that suffrage would at all be an issue at all. The point of view of Harriet Martineau was of a woman from England in 1834. In England, a very small percentage of people are able to vote because you must own land to vote. So, for her, the voting in America was a big step up from England. When Jackson became president, he appointed Roger B. Taney as his chief justice. In the Supreme Court case of 1837, Charles River Bridge vs. Warren Bridge, Taney says that Charles Bridge does not have a full monopoly. This goes in favor of everything that Jackson says that he believes in. By not letting them have a full monopoly, it favors the people rather than the big corporations. This decision allowed equal economic opportunities for all Americans.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Although Jackson claimed to be the president of the common people, he was not a good president for everyone and really hurt the Native American community and different minorities. During Jackson’s presidency, many Americans sought to expand west. However, many Native Americans were currently living in these areas. In the Worcester vs. Georgia case, the court ruled that the natives had a right to their land and they were not able to be kicked out of it. Unfortunately for the natives, Jackson did not listen and decided to kick them out. This led to the Trail of Tears, in which the natives were forced to move 5,000 miles and one fourth of the natives died in this long process. In Jackson doing this, he is going against his congressional powers and his principles of democracy because of the Supreme Court already ruling this unconstitutional. Although Jackson was a large advocate of strict construction of the Constitution, he did not always abide by the First Amendment. At times, not allowing everyone to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In 1835 South Carolina was pressuring Jackson with the Acts and Resolutions of South Carolina. In which they said that Jackson should ban the abolitionists from sending anything through the US mail that talked about abolishing slavery. Jackson agreed with this and tried to not let abolitionist mail through the US mail. The point of view of South Carolina in writing this is that they are making a killing off of slave labor. With the cotton gin in full effect, slave labor is more profitable than ever and it would hurt many landowners greatly if their slaves were taken away. This is a way that Jackson failed to protect the individual liberties of people, because he did not protect their freedom of speech. Not only did the natives and abolitionists get their liberties stripped from them, but other minority groups such as Africans and the Irish. In the 1830s, Whig writer, Philip Hone, talked about violence against Africans and the Irish people. This shows that Jackson was only a great president for white men. When Jackson vetoed the bill for the National Bank, it could also be seen not as protecting the Constitution, but actually doing the opposite. Daniel Webster pointed this out in his reply message to Jackson on the veto decision. Webster argued that in vetoing it, he is giving way too much power to the executive brand of the government. He expresses how Jackson is acting like a king and just disregarding the Constitution. However, Webster could be bias because he was in support of the National Bank, and Jackson doing this just upset him.
Although Jackson claimed to be the president for the common man, he did not protect the individual liberties of other minority groups. Jackson moved the country forward economically by getting rid of all of the country’s national debt and claiming a lot of western land. However, he moved the country backward socially because of his moving of the natives and stance on slavery. This economic movement forward and social movement backward is similar to what America's current president Donald Trump is doing. Although Trump has economically improved our country, the nation is more divided socially than it has been in a long time. Like Jackson, Trump claims to be the president for the forgotten man or the common working-class man. With that, both got the majority of votes from white people and struggled to get votes from minorities, with trump getting less than 10% of votes from African Americas. Along with that, both presidents are outspoken out their critics, with Donald Trump tweeting attack tweets quite often during the day, and Jackson actually dueling one of his opponents and killing him. Jackson and trump had very similar presidencies in the way that they improved the country economically and moved the country back socially.
Stuck on your essay?
